MERCERSBURG &GT;&GT; Stoner's Dairy Farm on Saturday kicked off their corn maze season with a pork roast.

Many folks came back. Many stopped by for the first time. The last adventurers of summer sailed through a pig, two shoulders and two loins.

"We sold out at 2:30," Jamie Stoner said on Saturday. "I don't know, next year maybe we'll have to get two whole pigs."

The farm this year expanded the petting zoo and added more activities for children.

"People enjoy doing it," Stoner said. "People keep coming out."

Two miles of trails wind through tall corn in the shape of a cowboy leaning against a barrel and taking a siesta with a horse and cactus nearby. Average exploring time is 30 minutes. Stoner can walk it in 12 minutes.

After the first couple of rows there's no peeking over the top.

"Once you're down in there, there's no way to see over the top," Stoner said. "There's nothing but pure corn in there."

Visitors get a "help card" that they can use for directions at key locations. The least helpful clue: "Wait right here! We'll get you out when we cut the corn down in November."

A smart phone can also come in handy.

For the past two years the James Buchanan High School team has been out to clear the paths through the corn. The coach calls it working as a team.

"As long as we feed them, they'll do anything," Stoner said. "They have a blast doing it. We hated it. It's like weeding a five-acre garden plot."

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The agri-business hires 15 people part-time, most of them Stoner relatives. The event started eight years ago with five helpers.

The maze grew out of the Harvest Fall Festival, a one-day event that the Stoners started 11 years ago. It keeps growing.

Sue Black, Chambersburg, thought it would be fun for her three grandchildren from Harrisburg to visit Stoner's Dairy Farm.

"It was a little hard to find," said the first-time visitor. "I thought there would be more signs. The kids are loving it. That's what it's all about."

They steered clear of the large maze and the mini maze in the shape of a cactus.

"I think they're afraid they'll get lost," Black said.

The children corralled the live chickens and hand-pumped water to scoot plastic ducks along a pipe. They rode feed bags down the "red-neck sliding board," a large drain pipe cut in half.

Amy McIntyre, a mother of three from Falling Waters, West Virginia, saw a picture of the farm on Facebook and decided to make the hour drive.

"It's real nice up here," she said."It turned out to be a good day."

Her son, Ashton Morris nailed the open barn door with his corn cannon on his first try. His other 11 shots missed the mark, but his name went up on the annual Wall of Fame, and he got free ice cream.

They plan to come back in the fall.

The maze is open weekends through Nov. 2. The Harvest Farm Festival is Oct. 4. For a list of more events, activities and hours visit http://www.stonersdairyfarm.com.

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